GovernanceCouncil

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

3:00PM

UNH306

James Mower,Chair

Minutes

PRESENT:King, Chad; Kressner, Ilka; Malloch, Carolyn; Moore, Chris; Mower, James;

Poehlmann, Christian; Schmidt, John; Sorensen, Lucy Yonkers, Virginia

Absent:Herrmann, Susan; Young, Yuchi

The meeting convened at3:06p.m.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of November 20, 2017 wereapproved, with one abstention.

Chair’s Report – James Mower

Chair Mower reviewed his written report, as submitted below:

I attended the State of SUNY address on 1/22/2017 given by SUNY Chancellor Christine Johnson. The Chancellor outlined 4 themes for her administration:

  1. Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  2. Emphasized importance of research in artificial intelligence and machine learning
  3. Wants to increase cross-disciplinary research between engineering and liberal arts programs
  4. Believes that it would be good to hire new early career faculty (noted that 40% of SUNY faculty are nearing retirement)
  5. Individualized Education
  6. Would like to increase opportunities for lifelong learning (which she referred to as ‘just in time’ learning, given her statement that technical education has about a 5-year shelf life)
  7. Committed herself to installation of food pantries on all 64 campuses
  8. Sustainability
  9. Given that SUNY operates about 40% of all state buildings, wants to see campuses go green ahead of the Governor’s 2030 deadline. SUNY will work with NYSERDA to accomplish this.
  10. Supports Excelsior program and student retention efforts
  11. Partnerships
  12. Wants to establish partnerships down to the elementary school level
  13. Would like to see increases in study abroad programs
  14. Wants to establish a SUNY system-wide endowment similar to those in California and Texas

A transcript of her address is at

Jim Collins (Senate Immediate Past Chair) and I attended a meeting of the Campus Governance Leadership (CGL) on 12/18/2017. Jim Collins compiled this report:

On December 18, Vice Chair Mower and Immediate Past Chair Collins met with Provost Stellar, Associate Provost Murray, and Chief of Staff Szelest to discuss the following topics:

1. Contingent Concerns Reports & continuity of work: Three draft reports on teaching intensive career pathways, teaching intensive pathways to permanence, and guidelines for appointing part-time academic faculty.
2. COR, and the issues of whose responsibility is to keep track of institutes & centers and the recommendation that it be someone from the Office for Research: This was discussed, and the status of a U Buffalo, Rockefeller College, and Albany Law proposed center for law and policy analysis was discussed.
3. The need to have Senate Representation in working groups was reiterated: Administration accepts that Senate should have representation. The Governance Council was asked for a representative to the Strategic Planning group on Diversity and Inclusion.

4. Budget: The need to plan for predictable ‘structural deficits’ was reiterated, and will need further discussion; the Administration says that Capital Campaign funds can be used for graduate and undergraduate merit scholarships.
5. Update: UPPC request for 2007&2017 quantitative and qualitative data on entering classes. In discussing what departments at the University are doing to assist students who struggle with a particular major: Chemistry has a proactive program and should be consulted, making good use the resources offered in ALEKS and EAB; for overview, consult Asst. VP and Director of Advisement Joanne Malatesta.

6. CEAS/CEHC/IS and formal consultation: Senate leaders agreed to supply a written statement that the spirit of formal consultation had been followed in the two-year effort to reassign Information Studies from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences to the College of Emergency, Homeland and Cyber Security.

Jim Collins and I attended another CGL meeting on 1/29/2018. At this meeting we discussed

  1. We asked Provost Stellar to comment on President Rodriguez’s view of contingent faculty issues that were addressed in a set of contingent faculty reports compiled by Bill Hedberg and distributed to CGL. Stellar said that he would consult with Bill H about the issues addressed in the documents. Stellar and Rodriguez have regular one-on-one meetings and will discuss these issues at the next one (unknown date but relatively soon). Jim C. asked for data on the number of fulltime vs part-time positions over the past 3 years and how the University stands with respect to national averages. Bruce S agreed to provide numbers of contingent vs full time faculty members teaching GenEd programs.
  1. We asked the Provost to comment on strategic budgeting for strategic planning—how will it work? Bottom up from colleges? No definite answers were given. I asked the President at yesterday’s (1/6/2018) Senate meeting about the role of the Senate in this process. Although no definite answer was given, the President indicated that Senate consultation would be an important part of the implementation process.
  2. We were informed that approval of a new Environmental Science and Engineering Department continues to move along in the University/SUNY/StateEd approval process. The proposed Department already has a chair. We gave the Provost’s office approval to conduct an on campus external review (standard for new program proposals through SUNY System).

Elections

I am now working on the creation of a preliminary slate of candidates beginning their terms in Fall 2018. As of now, we still need to find names for:

  • 2 candidates for Senate At-Large, Open category and
  • 1 candidate for SUNY At-Large

Please let me know of anyone you think would be interested in running and I will reach out to them.

Chair Mower noted that since the SUNY chancellor had emphasized STEM in her State of SUNY address, the Senate would monitor if other areas begin to feel marginalized. Members discussed that an emphasis on early career faculty could also cause contingents to feel marginalized.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Chair Mower reminded Senate Secretary/CLE ChairChris Poehlmann that Patrick Nold would no longer be serving as a GOV member, and asked Chris to find a replacement.

nEW BUSINESS

Report from Liaison and Elections (CLE) on voting software systems

CLE Chair Chris Poehlmann reported that he had met with Mike Sweeny from ITS, who had indicated that UAlbany recently purchased Qualtrics software. The chair reviewed the benefits and risks of using the software for Senate voting. He agreed to schedule a trial ballot, noting that he was uncertain if the set-up would be ready to use in time for elections.

Survey of Faculty (Committee on Assessment of Governance and Consultation - CAGC)

At GOV Chair Mower’s request, Virginia Yonkers volunteered to serve as CAGC Chair, and Carolyn Malloch offered to serve as Co-Chair. Ilka Kressner agreed to be available for consultation as a former CAGC member. GOV Chair Mower noted that Jack Mahoney from Institutional Researchsuggested a model based on a survey conducted through the COACHE at Harvard, and Jack and Senate Chair Reinhold would be available to assist. Members discussed suggestions regarding survey questions, format and timing.

Upcoming faculty-wide elections (Committee on Liaison and Elections)

Chair Mower announced that he would be sending out notes on elections as follows:

  • Running for Senator
  • Serving on UAS Board
  • Running for SUNY-Wide UFS Senator
  • Serving as Senate Vice Chair

He reviewed the number of positions open, candidates needed and names of those who had agreed to run for various positions. John Schmidt as a former SUNY UFS Senator noted what was required to serve in that position. The GOV chair reminded that senators from each college were apportioned, adding that he would be contacting the deans to confirm who would be serving next year.

GOV Meeting Schedule

Since the February 7th meeting was rescheduled to February 21st due to inclement weather, members agreed to cancel the February 28th meeting scheduled for the following week. The CLEwould instead meet on February 28th and would use that room reservation. GOV would meet next on March 28th.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 3:49p.m.

Respectfully submitted by

Elisa Lopez, Recorder